Official name of the country: the People's Republic of China Form of government: National People's Congress Area: 9,600,000 km2 Population: 1.37053 billion inhabitants Official language: Mandarin Capital: Beijing Population of the capital: 20,693,000 inhabitants Important economic and cultural cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Chongqing

Interesting facts

China's 5000 year history has witnessed countless inventions, among which four are stressed out and given the honor "The Four Great Inventions" - Papermaking, Printing, Gunpowder, and Compass. As the most influential contrivances, those four inventions had a compound influence on the development of Chinese science and technology and had a far-ranging global impact.

China is richly endowed with fine natural resources and many wonderful places combining scenic beauty with historical interest. The 47 world heritage sites in China represent the quintessence of the nation, adequately demonstrating the magnificence, beauty and vastness that attract and fascinate people from all over the world.

Boasting rich cultural meaning and a long history, traditional Chinese festivals compose an important and brilliant part of Chinese culture. They are Spring Festival, Lanterns Festival, Tomb-sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival. In every festival there will be many kinds of activities and celebrations which attracts many tourists from home and abroad.

Tea, a drink pioneered by the Chinese, is brewed by infusing tender buds picked from tea trees in boiled water after baking. Legend has it that tea was first discovered by Emperor Shennong, who was tasting hundreds of herbal medicines to test their medicinal power in southwest China. Usually we sort tea for those classes: Green Tea (Represented by West Lake Dragon Well Tea), Red Tea (Represented by Keemun), Oolong Tea (Represented by Tie Guanyin), White Tea (Represented by White Peony), Yellow Tea (Represented by Mengding huangya). Each of them has its representative tea and own different drinking methods and different requirement for water. Along with the classification it formed different kind of tea culture.

China is the hometown and the birthplace of liquor. It is also one of the earliest countries that made alcohol. In Chinese the word for alcohol "jiu" is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages, from 'pijiu' (beer) to liquors (just called 'jiu') to grape wine ('putao jiu'). According to the classification, we listed some representatives of "jiu" in China ：liquors (Maotai in Guizhou, Wuliangye and other 10 best liquors in China), beer (Qingdao Beer, Harbin Beer and so on ), grape wine (Zhangyu, Great wall red wine and so on).

Information sources: Tour operators who ranks top 20 in China National Tourism Administration Official Website

Visa information

Visa types

Chinese visas fall into four types: diplomatic visa, courtesy visa, official visa and ordinary visa. Ordinary visa is further divided into the following categories:

(I) Tourist Visa and Family Visitor Visa (L Visa): Issued to foreigners who intend to go to China as a tourist, or for visiting a family member, or for other personal affairs in a short term.

(II) Visit Visa (F Visa): Issued to foreigners who intend to go to China for visit, investigation, lecture, business, technical and cultural exchanges, advanced study and internship upon the invitation; the duration of each stay shall be no more than 6 months.

(III) Student Visa (X Visa): Issued to foreigners who intend to study, engage in advanced study or internship in China for a period of more than 6 months.

(IV) Work Visa (Z Visa): Issued to foreigners who intend to work, engage in commercial performance or academic exchanges in China and their accompanying spouses and minor children.

(V) Flight Visa (C Visa): Issued to foreign crew members of international transportation, including aircraft, trains and ships engaged in cross-border transport activities.

(VI) Journalist Visa (J Visa): Includes J-1 and J-2. J-1 is issued to foreign journalists reside in China and their accompanying spouses and minor children. J-2 is issued to foreign journalists who intend to go to China for short-term news coverage.

(VII) Transit Visa (G Visa): Issued to foreigners who intend to transit through China to the third country or region, and stay at the airport for over 24 hours or go out of the airport.

(VIII) Resident Visa (D Visa): Issued to foreigners who intend to reside in China upon the approval.

Valid period

(I) Valid period ("Enter Before") means the period that the visa is valid, or the period from the date of the issuance of visa to the "Enter Before" date indicated on the visa (Beijing Time). If a visa has unused entries, the bearer can enter China before the expiration date (including this date).

(II) "Entries" refer to the number of times the bearer is permitted to enter China during the valid period of a visa.

A visa becomes invalid if there are no entries left, or there are entries left but the visa validity expires. If a visa becomes invalid, its bearer must apply for a new visa before entering China. Traveling with an invalid visa to China will result in refusal of entry.

(III) "Duration of Each Stay" refers to the maximum number of days the visa bearer is permitted to stay in China each time, which is calculated from the date of entry into China.

A detailed list of documents

(I) Passport -- Original passport with at least six months of remaining validity and blank visa pages, and a photocopy of the passport's data page and photo page.

(II) Visa Application Form -- One completed Visa Application Form of the People's Repbulic of China. The applicant of Work (Z) Visa, Student (X) Visa, the third country citizen, and accompanying people shall also fill in one Attached Form of Visa Application Form of the People's Republic of China. Please complete and sign the form completely strictly according to the facts.

(IV) Proof of legal stay or residence status -- (applicable to those not applying for the visa in their own country of citizenship) the third country citizen shall provide valid certificate for stay, work, and study in America, or original and photocopy of valid American visa when applies for visa in America.

(V) Previous Chinese passports -- applicable to foreign citizens who were born in China (including born in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) and have obtained foreign citizenship; when apply for the Chinese visa for the first time, you should provide previous Chinese passport and a photocopy of its time extension page and photo page (if applicable).

(VI) Proof of name change -- If your name on the current passport differs from that on the previous one, you must provide an official certificate of name change.

(VII) Previous Chinese visas -- If you are a overseas Chinese with foreign nationality and was born in China, and you obtained Chinese visa before and want to apply for a Chinese visa with a renewed foreign passport, you should present the original data photo page of the previous passport and the photocopy of the previous Chinese visa.

Other important information

(I) You can apply for a visa at a Chinese Embassy or Consulate General.

(II) We suggest you apply for your visa a month before your planned trip to China. If you apply for the visa too early, the visa may have expired when you need to use it. If you apply for the visa too late, you may not have enough time to get the visa before you leave.

(III) If you have submitted all documents required, it normally takes 4 workdays (it varies from case to case).

Notice: Currently there is no direct links/flights between China and other CEEC regions except Poland. But people can arrive in those countries via transit airport in Istanbul, Vienna, Moscow, Munich, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Helsinki, Zurich by airplane.